Yes my friends, you heard me right! As ironic as it may sound, you have to eat more fat to burn more fat! Burning fat requires a lot of energy output and healthy fat sources allow your body to increase and maintain an efficient metabolism (AKA the rate at which your body burns calories). It is the most energy dense macro available to us! Studies actually show that those who include healthy fats in their diet are more lean than those who avoid fat! Let's take the French for instance. Butter is eaten religiously in their culture yet the French are known to be some of the healthiest people on Earth (along with the Japanese)! So, despite what you may have heard in the 80’s your body NEEDS fat! In addition to what it can do for our waistlines, healthy fats can also...
balance and help create hormones
fuel our brains and help us focus
help us stay full longer
give our thyroid a boost
help protect us from Alzheimer's and dementia
boost our overall mood
lower our dangerous LDL cholesterol while raising our protective HDL cholesterol
lower our blood pressure
prevent cancer
…and much more!
There are FOUR different types of fat and I want to break them all down for you today to help you better understand which ones are most important to focus on and which ones we should limit. It is crucial that we focus on getting two to three healthy fat servings every single day!
FATS TO INCULUDE IN YOUR DIET:
MUFAS (Monounsaturated Fatty Acids) Nuts, seeds, avocado and avocado oil, olive oil, sesame oil, peanut, sunflower and safflower oil
PUFAS (Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids) Flax seeds, sunflower seeds, fish, flax seed and oil, eggs, avocados, butter, quinoa
SATURATED Fats: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Grass Fed Butter
FATS TO AVOID:
SATURATED Fats: Fatty Meat, Full Fat Dairy, Poultry skin, Lard
2. TRANS Fats: fast food, packaged food, non dairy coffee creamer, vegetable and margarines, microwavable popcorn, baked goods ***Avoid Trans Fat Completely. They are chemically altered oils that give foods a longer shelf life.***
So, in a nut shell (pun intended ;) fats are FAR from equal. We must stop grouping them together and cringing at the very thought of them. The truth is your body needs and thrives off of them (the right ones and in moderation)! We do our body a great disservice when we deprive ourselves of them. So friends, let's jump off of this "fat free train" shall we? Let's get back to giving our body what it needs!
